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Franchising Creates
A Powerful New Class

By

Jeffrey A. TannenbaumStaff Reporter of The Wall Street Journal

Updated May 21, 1996 12:01 a.m. ET

Zubair M. Kazi boasts a $4 million California home with servants, six Mercedes-Benz automobiles and a collection of prized Frederic Remington sculptures. But to pinch pennies at his KFC fried-chicken restaurants, he snacks on wings rather than breasts. After all, wings wholesale for 25 cents a pound less.

Attention to such detail has helped propel the India-born immigrant into a rich and powerful new class: franchisees who own a large number of outlets. Starting with a single Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant 20 years ago,...